David Hayder’s Marshall Mather’s LP 2 Review

The Marshall Mathers LP 2 is the seventh studio album by Detroit rapper, Eminem.  In this review, I will be explaining my likes and dislikes for each track on this album.  Before you continue, I must warn you that this will be a LONG review, so if you would like a summary of my thoughts, please refer to the SUMMARY section, which is at the end of the review.  Thank you for reading my review!

LIKES:

The album starts off on a really strong note with Bad Guy.  This song is a sequel to one of Eminem’s best songs, in my opinion, Stan, which was off of The Marshall Mathers LP (1).  I thought it would have been cool if the beat had resembled Stan in some way (maybe Dido on the hook?) but I’m content with it. The beat also kind of reminds me of the intro to Drop The World by Lil’ Wayne featuring Eminem, which isn’t bad.  I like that Eminem started with this song because it makes this album feel as if it is the true sequel to the Marshall Mathers LP 1 since Stan was probably one of the most masterfully crafted songs off of that album.

Even though I liked that part of the track, I feel like the highlight of this track was when the beat switched up after the sequel to Stan and Eminem started rapping about his fears as if he was talking to himself while representing this evil side to him (Slim Shady?).  This part of the track is backed by an epic sounding beat which really amps up my likability for this song as a whole.

Parking Lot is a short skit that picks up after Criminal, a song off of The Marshall Mathers LP.

Rhyme or Reason is a song where Eminem spews random lyrical madness and talks about his absent father.  This song is backed up by a smooth sample-based beat that I really like.  This song as a whole is something that I can listen to any day because it gives off this laid back, smooth feeling to it that I really like.

So Much Better is a song that bashes one of his exes (possibly Kim).  I like the fact that Eminem returned to his good ole ways of getting angry because I find it quite entertaining and nostalgic of how he was in The Marshall Mathers LP.  The beat is great too.  This song is one of my favorites off the album.

Legacy is most likely my most favorite song off of the album because of the beat and how he approached this song from a delivery standpoint.  As Eminem talks about bullying issues and other negative experiences from his childhood, he intensifies his delivery as he talks about how music and rapping gave him his confidence which makes the song even more interesting to me.  You can hear him getting more and more aggressive with his delivery as the song progresses because his voice was muddled for the first and second verse but on the third verse, he goes all out with his intense delivery which gives me this empowered feeling that I loved as I’m experiencing how music gave him his inner strength.

The singles for this album, Survival and Berzerk, have actually grown on me after listening to the whole album.  I believe they’re actually some of better songs on the album because they show off his passion for Hip Hop.

On Rap God, the other single for this LP, Eminem simply shows off how good he is as an Emcee.  Eminem straight up demolishes any doubts about his lyrical abilities by going from mid paced flows to rapping really fast which shows that he can pretty much keep up with the best of rappers lyrically.  My only problem with this song is the beat.  It doesn't do justice to what Eminem is delivering lyrically in my opinion.

Love Game is probably the most anticipated song on this whole album due to the feature with Kendrick Lamar.  When I first saw this song, I expected Eminem and Kendrick Lamar to try and outdo each other in the most intense lyrical battle of their lifetime.  When I listened to this song for the first time, my expectations were completely shattered.

Love Game is actually a silly love song.  After I got over the initial shock of my shattered expectations, I thought the way they approached the song was alright.  The beat was alright.  I didn’t hate the song, but I thought it was just…alright.  After hearing this song several times, it’s slowly starting to grow on me.

So Far is also a song that has grown on me the more I listened to it.  I actually didn’t like the song at first because of the beat, but as I listened to it more and more, I started to get why he decided to present the song as it was.  This song features a country sounding type of beat with Eminem talking about how his life has changed with all of this fame that he has acquired over the course of his career as an Emcee.  I found this song quite amusing because of some of the examples he uses to demonstrate how his life has changed and I thought the beat fit with his message because it demonstrates how he went from “trailer trash” to Hip Hop’s biggest rap star.

Headlights is basically a song about Eminem wanting to patch things up with his mom and it features Nate Ruess of Fun.  Even though I’m not quite fond of the poppy sounding beats on this album, that sound kind of works with this song because he personalized this song instead of making it a generic song any rapper could use.  With a song as personal as this one, it would have been cool to hear Eminem do something with the chorus to make it even more personal but I enjoyed this song nonetheless.

Lastly, on songs like Evil Twin and Brainless, Eminem returns to unleashing lyrical havoc through clever wordplay over hard hitting beats.  These songs will really appeal to fans who love hearing Eminem go crazy and hardcore lyrically since these songs do have a Relapse/Bat Meets Evil sound and appeal to them in my opinion.

DISLIKES:

With that said, there were a couple of songs on this album that I felt could have been left off of the album.

For example, Monster is a track that I feel should have not been on the album because it sounds too poppy and generic to be on an album that is supposed to be the sequel to The Marshall Mathers LP.  As a matter of fact, this song sounds like a left over track for Recovery.

I’m also kind of disappointed with Asshole featuring Skylar Grey.  With a title like that, this could’ve been the perfect opportunity to finally unleash Slim Shady on the masses and bring back the trouble-maker that a lot of longtime fans of his music have missed.  Unfortunately, this song sounded like a filler track to me because there are other songs by Eminem which demonstrate his asshole behavior way better than this song.

The other song that I could do without and which I felt like was poorly executed was Stronger Than I Was.  Eminem sings for around 80% of the song about Kim (his ex-wife) and towards the end of it, he finally goes back to doing what he does best, which is rapping.  The main problem I have with this song is that he sings for WAY too long.  The singing made it almost unbearable to continue listening to the entire song because Eminem is not the best singer.  I would have liked it better if he was rapping more than he was singing.

SUMMARY:

In conclusion, Eminem manages to save most of the album with his awesome lyrical abilities as an Emcee.  There is no doubt in my mind that this is the sharpest we have heard from Eminem lyrically.  What I imagine may turn off longtime fans of Eminem’s music is the overall poppy sounds that are presented on this album.  Although a lot of the beats on this album may sound too poppy for calling it a sequel to The Marshall Mathers LP, Eminem tries to balance it out by going back to the foundation of what made him popular in the first place in order to try and appeal to both casual listeners and longtime fans of his music.  That is why I have come to the conclusion that this may have been the best approach because Eminem is not in the same state of mind as in MMLP1. To me, this doesn’t really sound like a sequel as much as I believe it sounds like a summary of his whole discography put into this album.  In my opinion, this is one of the better releases this year compared to other big name releases in Hip Hop music but this is by no means the best Eminem album.  That is why my final rating for The Marshall Mathers LP 2 is a concrete 4/5 stars.



David Hayder, Independent Rapper and Internet Radio DJ
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